UTC finalizes 2020-21 professional development series

The University Training Center (UTC) for Reading Recovery® and Maine Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy (MPCL) has finalized its professional development series for the 2020-21 school year.

Ongoing professional development is key to the comprehensive literacy model that schools and districts across Maine have implemented with the help of the UTC. The model provides for continuous school improvement through powerful classroom instruction along with a broad range of literacy interventions, providing multiple layers of differentiated instruction for learners in kindergarten through grade 12. Improved student learning outcomes result from high quality expert teaching in a collaborative team approach in supporting each and every student.

This year, UTC will offer three remote, synchronous professional development modules open to educators in Maine Reading Recovery and MPCL schools. Tiffany Twitchell, Reading Recovery teacher leader for southern Maine, will lead modules for elementary classroom teachers, coaches, Reading Recovery teachers and interventionists on “Social and Emotional Aspects of Literacy Learning” and “A Team Approach for Supporting Struggling Learners in the Elementary School Setting.” UMaine MPCL trainer Debra Hogate will lead a module for administrators on “Administrative Leadership: Examining a Comprehensive Model of Instruction.”

The modules consist of eight, two-hour Zoom sessions, and educators will earn two continuing education units (CEUs) for each one they complete.

In addition, the UTC will offer conference or seminar-style professional development events this year. Those include:

• Creating a Community of Joyful Readers, Writers and Thinkers
  Presenter: Dr. Gravity Goldberg
  Date/Time: 10.15.20, 9-11 a.m.
  Location: Zoom
  Audience: MPCL coaches, teacher leaders, classroom teachers
• Digging Into Data with the IDEC On-Demand and Annual Reports
  Presenter: Jeff Brymer-Bashore
  Date/Time: 04.02.21, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
  Location: Virtual, Zoom
  Audience: Reading Recovery teachers, teacher leaders
• Student-Centered Coaching
  Presenter: Diane Sweeney
  Date/Time: 04.14.21, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
  Location: Virtual, Zoom
  Audience: MPCL coaches, instructional coaches, administrators
• 5th Annual Suzanne W. Cole Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Institute
  Presenter: Dr. Lori Taylor, Keynote address; Maine Teacher Leader Team, Conference sessions
  Date/Time: 05.20.21
  Location: Virtual, Zoom
  Audience: Reading Recovery teachers, interventionists, other early childhood educators

For more information download a flyer below, or contact: Kathie Wing, katherine.wing@maine.edu, 207.581.2493.